The Short List

Our first picture of our photo session.  See how he loves the can?



Our second photo.  Now this is getting a little old. 
I think Q*bert was walking past the doorway, which is waaaaay more important.



Ok, seriously, at this point, he's had enough.  See the eyes?  See the ears? 
It was time to put the camera down and walk away.



Everyone knows about the daily struggle Jim and I have to get Indiana to eat.  Some days leave me in tears, but since we discovered Evanger's canned "Hunk of Beef" food, it's made our lives sooooooo much easier.  It used to be, we had a list of maybe 4-5 canned foods that Indiana would eat.  Today, that list appears to be one.  And it's Hunk of Beef.

Evanger's is a good company--all natural, human-grade ingredients.  They stand apart from other companies because they actually make their food right in the can.  Plop in ingredients.  Cook in can.  Done.  So the texture of their foods is more like "people" food.  The Hunk of Beef is literally that.  A hunk of beef.  It has the texture of beef cooked in a crockpot.  No veggies.  Just beef.

Indiana will always eat it, which is good, because it's one of the few things that we are guaranteed to get into her.  Jim just expressed concern this morning about what we would do if it goes off "The List."  I told him we can't think about that.  But then I thought, "What would we do??"  And then I pushed it out of my mind, because, geez, it's not a pretty thought.  There's always something, I'm sure, but I don't know what it would be.  Thank God I work at a pet food store.

I definitely recommend this food to anyone with a picky pet.  The Evanger's rep I talked to several weeks ago at the IKC Dog Show said it is their top selling canned food.  I can see why. 

I Could Not Live Without This Product

(My best friend)

Meet my best friend, Stella and Chewy's freeze dried dinners.  My life has been greatly simplified by these tiny patties.  Right now it's the only thing Indiana will consistently eat.  Her new cancer supplement, Poly-MVA, comes as a liquid, so I tear up the dried patties and pour the Poly-MVA over it, let it soak in for a few minutes, and then feed the bits to Indiana.  Whatever is left on the plate, Indiana will lick that up.  So it works REALLY well for us.  Plus, as I mentioned, Indiana won't eat her turkey right now, or even always her canned food.  But she never refuses the Stella and Chewy's freeze-dried patties.  (Why isn't S & C's paying me to write this???) 

Not only is Indiana ga-ga for these patties, but it makes my cats lose their sh*t.  Seriously.  Three of my four are picky eaters (especially Mr. Squiggles), yet when I open the cabinet and pull out the Stella and Chewy's, I have four cats flying into the kitchen from all ends of the house.  The meowing starts right away, because I cannot feed them this stuff fast enough.  They'll eat and eat it until I stop feeding it to them.  It's crazy, but exciting too.  Yes, I get excited about pet food.

If you view it as a treat, I suppose it's kind of expensive (around $27 a bag), but the bag holds a lot of patties, and the patties are basically solid meat.  We go through a ridiculous number of these bags a month now, but oh my gosh, you cannot put a price on my sanity.  If you have never tried these patties, especially if you have an older pet or picky eater, I encourage you to go out right now and buy a bag.  Your life will never be the same.

You're welcome.

Product Spotlight: Primal Pet Foods

This is the first in a series of posts on products I love. It was hard to choose which product would have the place of honor as the very first, because there are so many wonderful products out there, but ultimately, my gut said to go with Primal.

I discovered Primal foods several years ago when I switched over to holistic care for my pets. They make a wonderful line of premade raw meals, with meat sources like chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, quail, venison, and pheasant. The first thing that struck me about Primal was their ingredients list. Check it out:

Chicken, Chicken Necks, Ground Chicken Bones, Chicken Hearts, Organic Kale,
Organic Carrots, Organic Yams, Chicken Livers, Organic Broccoli, Organic Apples,
Organic Ground Flaxseed, Cranberries, Organic Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar,
Organic Parsley, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Kelp, Alfalfa, Mixed Tocopherols
(source of vitamin E).

Oh my gosh! Amazing! I know and understand every ingredient on there! I love that their fruits and veggies are not only organic, but they use just the right mix, so they don't have to add any artificial vitamins or minerals. Humans are always told that it's better for us to derive our nutrients from food sources, rather than from vitamins in pill form. The same holds for our animals. Love it!

We don't feed the premade stuff anymore, but we do use Primal meat in our homemade mix. Primal makes a line of "grinds," which include the meat, organs, and bone. We add our own veggies and nutrients to this. The only reason we switched to a homemade diet was because we wanted control over the vegetables and add-ins, such as the oils, supergreen foods, and such.

Primal is always the first brand I mention when I recommend raw diets to others. I encourage you to visit their website, http://primalpetfoods.com/, read their company philosophy and drool over their wonderfully amazing ingredients lists. But pretend you're a dog when you're drooling, or otherwise it's pretty gross.